Webchat about Dyslexia with Karen Mace from British Dyslexia Association - Wednesday 3 October, 9pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Dyslexia Awareness Week runs from Monday 1st to Sunday 7 October and we’ve organised a webchat with Karen Mace, Head of Assessments and Professional Level Training at the British Dyslexia Association on Wednesday 3 October between 9 and 10pm.

Kate Mace is a qualified specialist teacher and assessor for dyslexia. She has 25-years teaching experience, including four years as a deputy headteacher and seven years as a special educational needs co-ordinator.

Dyslexia Awareness Week will run from today until Sunday 7 October and this year the focus is on 21st century dyslexia. The week, organised by the British Dyslexia Association, will include activities in classrooms, workplaces and online (using the hashtag #21stcenturydyslexia), competitions and much more. Helen Boden, CEO of the British Dyslexia Association said: “For too long, dyslexia has been seen as a negative associated only with difficulties reading and writing. For this year’s Dyslexia Awareness Week, we are focusing on 21st century dyslexia. We will be holding events, training and competitions looking at the massive advances in understanding of dyslexia, including the benefits it brings, and technology to support those identified as dyslexic.”

If you’d like to join the discussion, or have questions you’d like to put to Karen, please join us here - or if you're unable to join us at this time, post questions for Karen in advance on this thread.

Thank you Karen.

Pity you couldn't raise that point when Karen Mace was still here and the webchat was live

I am absolutely astonished that the BDA are promoting the discrepancy model to assess for dyslexia.

Again, pity that Karen Mace now has no right of reply

@Rachelmumsnet thanks for this chat, Kate got through an astonishing number of questions compared to the average webchat!

@blue25 @waydugo @limitisup @edpsy the op says Kate is coming back to do another webchat so you’ll have a chance to ask then. Or you could email the BDA and post their response to this thread.

Happy world dyslexia day everyone!!

Reply to blue25’s comment:
“Why do you think a dyslexia diagnosis is helpful for children? We have a whole range of pupils being 'diagnosed' with dyslexia, but they all have very different needs. This makes the label or diagnosis meaningless for us. Each child needs their own individualised plan for e.g. Phonics, spelling, memory. Lumping all these children with the same diagnosis is at best useless and at worst harmful, as others will make incorrect assumptions about the child based on the label e.g. they can't read.”

Sorry, but my sons went through the whole school system being made to feel thick and lazy by teachers who failed to identify their dyslexia and who refused my repeated requests to have them assessed for dyslexia. Teacher after teacher continually told me my sons were not dyslexic and the SEND teacher said he didn’t think they were - they just didn’t have a clue. The damage from not being identified as dyslexic was immense on their self-confidence, never mind their education. The overwhelming relief on their faces, and mine, when it was finally confirmed following a private diagnosis at age 16, said it all. They finally knew it wasn’t because they were thick or lazy (as one teacher had stated) that they struggled with spelling, sentence structure or organising their writing and answers. They both excelled in maths and science and did maths A level. Having a diagnosis is important for children and it is extremely important for all teaching staff (teachers and assistants), to understand the reason a child may struggle, as too often, children are being reprimanded rather than supported when they are slow to produce work, told to pay attention when they have forgotten instructions, asked to read out loud, made to stay in at break because they didn’t finish their work, etc. Too many teaching staff still do not have a clue about dyslexia unfortunately.

I agree wholeheartedly Busybee3333

Reply to EdPsy and Blue25
From the comments made on this thread, Karen did not state that she recommended the Discrepancy Model, which is based upon results from particular assessments and can be flawed due to a number of reasons, but what is true, is that GENERALLY, those with dyslexia do have a higher level of ability than their reading and writing would suggest. I know far too many intelligent adults and children with dyslexia, including my own two sons, to know how prevalent this discrepancy is between the two.

Well done Karen, I thought last night was great with good focus on helping parents to support their children. It’s very difficult to gather enough detail on queries through short emails and answers to these issues are always complex.
In relation to comments about the discrepancy theory, BDA does not offer this as policy and I did not interpret Karen suggesting that. Assessment guidelines are very heavily monitored with standards for testing being set by SASC ( which has a Government remit). BDA is represented on SASC and you can look at their website from which this helpful quote comes:
“Tests don't diagnose, people do'. An assessment is a differential diagnosis which uses a battery of tests to come to a conclusion about strengths and weaknesses and does not rely on any individual test for a diagnosis. Specialist Dyslexia Assessors do not only rely on the WRIT scores or a working memory deficit to make a diagnosis of dyslexia. They use data from other tests and take into account the verbal abilities of the student throughout the whole assessment process, noting receptive and expressive language skills. The assessment will also look at difficulties with working memory, phonological weakness and speed of processing, literacy weaknesses and specific skills associated with reading and writing. Additional testing may be carried out if supplementary evidence is required.” Meanwhile, may I also give some hope to parents that often things do improve when your child goes to work, especially if they are able to find their niche. I work predominantly with adult issues and after years of campaigning by and with BDA, we are beginning to see an acceptance of Neuro Diversity. The push now is to get recognition that if employers put in reasonable adjustments as a matter of course, they will reap the rewards of better productivity and the chance to benefit from the talents of ND employees.

To all parents concerned that their child may have dyslexia - do not listen to teachers telling you they do not think they are - get a basic assessment and if this indicates dyslexia then you can demand the school arranges an assessment via the LEA. The worst thing I did was listen to teachers all those years. Schools have limited resources and staffing and it is very likely many of your children will receive inadequate support due to this. Use online resources to support your child’s learning such as Nessy or other available ones. Use technology (ipads are great for using at high school) - many high schools permit submission of homework online/typed, if your child’s school doesn’t, insist on it. If your child has dysgraphia too, their hand will ache when writing, as well as having illegible handwriting most of the time, so using technology to complete assignments really does help. Tell your child to use bullet points when answering questions and to just expand upon the initial brief points - it helps break the answers up and helps them organise their writing. I know people suggest spider diagrams/memory mapping, etc, but this can often be impractical at times at high school level, although helpful. As Karen has suggested, using dictation software can be good. I know one of my sons had a problem listening to software that reads books for him (you could highlight text or take a photo of the text and it could read it for you), as he found parts of it to be irritating, but it may suit others, if you have large volumes of reading to undertake. There are also pens that scan text and read the words to you. One of my sons does find it helpful to wear green tinted glasses when he reads to take away some of the brightness from the pages. It can be a struggle to get some children with dyslexia to read books, so buy them comics to read. I found that helped one of my sons who was a reluctant reader.

Finally, I would like to reassure parents that it does get better and I was once that devastated parent watching my children struggle and worrying about their future. There are plenty of career opportunities that do not involve a great deal of writing - you just have to choose one that suits you. The important thing is to continually build your child’s self-esteem up and explain that having dyslexia has no bearing upon their intelligence whatsoever. My sons are fulfilling their career ambitions - one is at uni but the other chose another career route. Good luck to you all!

Thanks for answering so many questions Karen.

As a mother who read and encouraged learning in my home my son was fast to pick up reading and enjoyed school but I was extremely upset and frustrated to find my daughter found it really hard until I realised that she was dyslexic. When she attended primary school in her first years her teacher told me that she used to write an answer then rub it out.. I spoke to the head about extra help but very little help on hand as the school had no budget for special needs. She was not quite bad enough to be statemented so I got no help there. I got her extra tuition in english and maths but she went to the Secondary school with little confidence and wondering why she could not catch onto things as quickly as her peers. Truth is when you are a slow reader you have lost the thread of the question before you have got to the end of reading it so therefore you lose your sense of reasoning out a problem if you get my gist. I don't think s lot of people jncluding teachers get that. Again very little help and very little understanding for dyslexics in the comprehensive school either. At my wits end and feeling sad because I really wanted to help my daughter I was lucky enough to find a young lady who had made it to university despite her own dyslexia who tutored my daughter at our expense of course, and showed her the coping tools she had used herself as a student. This did help her a little but my daughter left school with very few qualifications but all the time I would always instill in her as much confidence as I possible could and praise her for her efforts, so she always had a sense of self worth. She tried hairdressing for her first job but had to pack it in as she had dermatitis on her hands. Always keen on fashion she got a job in retail and moved on and up to better jobs. Today she is a Manager in a very lucratve store. She has finally found her nitch and has learned a lot of coping skills along the way. So never give up hope, do everything you can for your child. Play to your childs strengths, technology is a great aid these days, spellchecks on phones, laptops and computers etc., Also encourage a good work ethic in your child, it will see them through life and get them noticed for sheer effort in the workplace. Bolster them up when they are young. Don't let them ever think of themselves as failures. Pick them up when they are down with good advice and it will pay dividends in the long run.